


Scott's Tail

by elleliteration



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Gen, Heacanon, What happened to Scott's father
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-24
Updated: 2013-04-24
Packaged: 2017-12-09 08:40:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/772231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elleliteration/pseuds/elleliteration
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>My headcanon for Scott & Melissa's relationship with Scott's father and how they got to where Melissa would say that they both believed they were better off without him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Scott's Tail

Scott’s father didn’t want the responsibility of a kid, never had. Sure he talked about having children, wanting a son, but his tune changed when Scott came along. He stopped talking about wanting children of his own, stopped making plans for his future family, leaving it all on Melissa. He wasn’t even there when Melissa came home to find the fire department outside her home, pale smoke wafting out of an open window. It was flurry of activity and emotion, Melissa left adrift and alone with Scott in her arms, to deal with all the paperwork and the reports.

It wasn’t bad, and the house could be salvaged, but Scott needed all new things and she wouldn’t let him sleep in the house until it had been cleaned from foundation to roof. It took almost a week, mostly because Scott’s father argued with her about everything, from what needed to be thrown out to what kind of cleaners should be used. They argued nearly constantly while they worked, and he left much of the work for Melissa.

By the time Scott was three years old, Melissa was tired of the fighting, done arguing, and told her husband as much. She packed herself and Scott up, enough for a week trip, and left to visit her sister in Salt Lake City, telling her husband that she wanted him moved out when she got home. Their trip was uneventful, pleasant enough, but Melissa was ready to go home after the week, and she imagined Scott was, as well. She was greeted with the unexpected sight of her husband still sitting on the front porch, in almost the exact place she’d left him in. Only the change in clothes told her that he had actually moved while she was gone. But he hadn’t moved enough.

Melissa grabbed her bags, and Scott’s diaper bag, and met her husband on the steps. “I thought I told you that I wanted you out?” she asked as she mounted the steps without a second glance.

“You did,” Scott’s father said, his hands in his pockets.

“So why are you still here?” she asked. Maybe if he gave the right answer, she might let him stay until the next fight. Maybe he really wanted to be there with her and their son.

“If I leave, who’s gonna take care of the house and the yard?” he asked, turning to follow her into the house, but she closed the door in his face, throwing the locks so that he couldn’t come after them.

He didn’t care about her. He didn’t care about their son. He cared about the lawn getting mowed. He cared about the bad wiring that made the kitchen overload if too many appliances were running at the same time, but not enough to actually fix it.

With her mind made up, Melissa opened the front window and tossed her husband’s keys and wallet out to him, sans the keys to the house. The house was a mess, but she was tired after the plane and car trips. At least Scott’s room was untouched, so he could sleep comfortably. Melissa put him down for a nap and went about cleaning everything up and setting aside things she wanted to take with her. Scott’s baby pictures, mementos from her parents and grandparents. She called a realtor and arranged for them to come out and look at the house, though they asked questions about her husband wanting to sell the house as well. But it had been her mother’s house and her husband’s name was in no way associated with the house. It was hers to do with as she saw fit. And right now, she wanted to sell it.

It only took a few weeks to get someone to buy the house and another week for Melissa to find a small apartment, big enough for herself and Scott to live in comfortably. When Melissa informed her husband of her intent, he moved his belongings to his parents’ basement and left Melissa on her own once more. But in the end, Melissa got them moved and settled, though Scott seemed confused why he wasn’t in his old bedroom at the house at first, he adjusted quickly with his mother at his side.

For six years, Melissa watched Scott make plans with his father, excited to see him, only to be disappointed when the man failed to show up time and again. It hurt her to watch Scott look out at the parking lot for hours after his father was supposed to arrive to spend time with him. Each time, Melissa would call him, angry that he would let Scott down with such ease and disregard and he would come around in the evening and take Scott for ice cream and give him a $20.

Melissa would see him around town with women, promising them things, having a good time, but never coming to her, even if they were still technically married. He didn’t make efforts to see Scott. It only happened when Scott called to arrange something. And without him making any kind of effort, Melissa didn’t feel bad when she filed for divorce. He didn’t fight it and didn’t ask for anything more than he already had. He didn’t even ask for joint custody of Scott.

The following summer, Scott’s grandfather died, his father’s father. Scott had spent the last year since the divorce coming home from his father’s crying because of the way his father’s girlfriends had treated Scott. So when they showed up at the funeral home at the time Scott had been told, Melissa found out that it was an hour late for the actual funeral. Melissa sent Scott in to find his father while she stayed in the car and fumed.

Scott went in and easily found his father speaking with a man in a black suit, but when Scott went over to him, his father merely pointed him towards the front of a room where a casket sat. His father simply told Scott to go say goodbye to his grandfather while he spoke with the man in black suit. Scott looked at his father for a few minutes, waiting for the punch line, for his father to go up to the casket with him so he didn’t have to see his grandfather for the last time alone, with no one there to comfort him and tell him that his grandfather was in a better place and wasn’t in pain anymore.

Scott barely stayed in the room for two minutes before he was tracing his steps back out to the car where his mother waited for him. He fought back tears during the drive back home and when they got there they spent a few hours talking about leaving, talking about moving somewhere far enough away that Scott’s father wouldn’t be able to disappoint him like this anymore. They made the decision to go and Melissa started looking for places they could move to that afternoon.

She called her ex-husband and told him quietly that she and Scott would be leaving town because he didn’t want anything else to do with his father anymore. It was a hard decision that no 10 year old should have to make, but he had and he seemed to want to stick to it. Melissa would give him a few days to think it over before making any final decision, but she told him that if they left, they never wanted to hear from him again.

He showed up at their apartment door with yet another $20 in his hand and an offer of ice cream on his lips. Scott took the money, but stayed by his mother’s side and declined the offer of the treat. Scott was done. Scott was ready for a new start.

The next month, Melissa and Scott moved to Beacon Hills, California Scott was enrolled in school and took up an interest in lacrosse. Scott met new people and made new friends and forgot about a father that had forgotten about him before he’d even been born.


End file.
